

There's this Japan-only game called Grimms Notes, and it has 2 characters
called "白の女王" and "白き女王". The former is based on the White Queen from Alice in
Wonderland, and the latter is an original character. These 2 characters have
no relation with each other.

Naturally "白の女王" can be simply translated as "White Queen", but what about
"白き女王"? Doesn't that mean "White Queen" too? Can it be translated as something
else like, I dunno, "White Monarch"?


CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-11-22T01:16:52.850
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question
translation
Do both "白の女王" and "白き女王" mean "White Queen"?


白き is an archaic version of 白い (but 白き is used only as an attributive form):

  * [How does -ki form of i-adjectives work? (e.g. 愛しき)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3120/5010)
  * [Meaning, origin and "type" of 多き](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/91367/5010)
  * [What is the ki used for in this sentence? 懐かし き 故郷](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/34108/5010)

For the difference between 白い女王 and 白の女王, please read:

  * [の (no) vs ~i for colors, can they be used indistinctly?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/59996/5010)
  * [How to choose adjective or noun with color](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/84692/5010)

Therefore, 白き女王 (or its modern equivalent 白い女王) suggests her _appearance_
(skin or dress) is white. On the other hand, 白の女王 sounds closer to "Queen of
White"; she is somehow associated with the white color, but she doesn't
necessarily _appear_ white.


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2023-11-22T01:33:41.660
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Wow. This is beautiful use of language.

Yes, both mean White Queen.

You could also say 白い女王 for White Queen. An older variant of 白い is 白き. So
they're mixing older useage for the original character, and 白の for the Alice
in Wonderland version.


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